1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a distributed service delivery model. More specifically, the present invention relates to a distributed service delivery model, including machine level provisioning and servicing, with improved reliability/availability and scalability that allows for personally identifiable information to be separated from servicing information.
2. Background and Related Art
Often, conventional distributed service delivery models include a centralized authorization/registration component and one or more service components that provide the desired services. One problem with this approach is that it mixes the most sensitive data, personally identifiable information (“PII”) related to registration activities and billing related information, for example, with service related data and processing. (It should be understood that personally identifiable information is a broad term, encompassing data from which an individual may be identified. Examples of PII include name, address, phone number, credit card number, email address, demographic information, other subscriptions, subscription history and so forth.) Mixing sensitive data with service related data and processing represents a tangible security risk.
However, separating more sensitive PII data from service data and processing introduces problems of its own. For example, reliability/availability becomes an issue because the authorization/registration component is interlinked with the service provider. Problems with the authorization/registration component cause problems at the service provider. In other words, interlinking the service provider with the authorization/registration component increases the likelihood of a service failure because a failure in either the authentication component or the service provider leads to the service provider being inaccessible.
Similarly, scalability also becomes an issue because the authorization/registration component provides authorization/registration for all client interaction with the service provider. As a result, access to the service provider is limited by the authorization/registration component's ability to authorize and/or register clients, in what is essentially a one-to-one relationship. The one-to-one relationship may be amplified where only a single authorization/registration component exists for more than one service.
Accordingly, methods, systems, and computer program products for a distributed service delivery model in which a service provider of a desired service may be identified and a client may be entitled to interact with the service, without the client being required to authenticate to an authorization component each time the client wishes to interact with the service.